The Isaiah Whitehead Era at Seton Hall is officially over.
The 6-foot-4 sophomore point guard will remain eligible for the NBA Draft and has signed with Stephen Pina of Andy Miller’s agency.
Seton Hall Has Been A Blessing To Me & My Family As Hard As It Is I Decided To Turn Pro & Live My Dream Thanks For Everything ������ #SH4LIFE
– Isaiah Whitehead (@IsaiahW_15) May 25, 2016
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Pina and Miller have now added both Whitehead and former Syracuse shooting guard Malachi Richardson to his list of clients.
“We are extremely excited to have Isaiah join our ASM family,” Miller told SNY.tv. “He is very talented and has enormous upside potential. We look forward to a long successful partnership.”
DraftExpress.com currently projects Whitehead as the No. 58 pick, while NBADraft.net has the former Lincoln High School star doing undrafted.
The 6-foot-4 point guard from Brooklyn has a workout scheduled for June 2 with the Indiana Pacers, as first reported by SNY.tv.
Whitehead has already worked out for Philadelphia, but cancelled workouts with Indiana, Boston and Chicago because of a hamstring injury.
He averaged 18.2 points and 5.1 assists this past season at Seton Hall, helping the Pirates win the Big East Tournament championship and reach the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Whitehead improved his stock with his play at the NBA Draft Combine. ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla said on a recent episode of The 4 Quarters Podcast that Whitehead — along with DeAndre’ Bembry and Denzel Valentine — might be the best passers in the Draft outside of potential No. 1 pick Ben Simmons.
“Even if it takes him a little while to adjust, I think Isiah can be a solid combo guard in the NBA,” Fraschilla said on Tuesday night. “He’s big, strong creates his own shot and make shots. And, he is one of the best passers in the draft. Every Big East coach I talked to thinks he will play in the league.”
The Big East will lose Whitehead, Marquette freshmman forward Henry Ellenson and Providence sophomore forward Ben Bentil to the NBA Draft, while Xavier sophomore Trevon Bluiett and Villanova junior Josh Hart are both returning to campus.
“He’s helped our brand immensely in the fact from where he came in as a freshman and where he is now in just two short years,” Pirates coach Kevin Willard told SNY.tv at the NBA Draft Combine. “Obviously, getting a guy in the NBA would be phenomenal for us. It shows what we do with individual instruction, what we do being in the metro area…I’m very proud of the work he’s put in, I’m very proud of the situation he’s put himself in.”
Willard believes his team will still be strong without Whitehead.
“We have guys who are going to have to take a step up,” Willard said. “We have some freshmen coming in who are going to have to be ready to play, and we have some guys that are sitting out [guard Jevon Thomas becomes eligible at mid-semester] who have to get ready and fill big shoes.”
Whitehead said at the Combine he believes the Pirates will be fine after making the NCAA Tournament this year for the first time in 10 years.
“I mean, they’re a great group, a whole bunch of sophomores,” he said. “I was a key part last year but even when I played bad they carried me. I think they’ll be a great group if I came back. I think they’ll be maybe even better if I didn’t just because they’ll come together as one and they wouldn’t lean on me as much so I think either way they’re going to be a decent team.”
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